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The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c9: Chapter IV. The Position of the Widow, Part I. The Satī Custom

The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c9

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Chapter IV. The Position of the Widow, Part I. The Satī Custom

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The Position of the Widow, Part I.

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The position of the widow in society is one of the most important topics which the historian of woman has to discuss and elucidate. The treatment which she receives is often an index to the attitude of society towards women as a class. What was the general lot of the widow? Was she allowed to survive her husband, or was she compelled to die with him? If permitted to survive, could she marry again if she so desired? Did she receive a humane and considerate treatment from the family and society? Could she hold or inherit property, so that she could lead an honorable and independent life after her husband's death? These are the main topics which we have to discuss in connection with the position of the widow. Of these, the question of the proprietary rights will be discussed in the ninth chapter. Here we shall take up the problems of Satī, levirate, remarriage, and tonsure. Of these, the question of the Satī custom will engage us in this chapter and the rest will be discussed in the next, which will close with a general survey of the position of the widow from age to age.

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The Custom of Satī (Suttee).

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In prehistoric times there prevailed a belief in several societies that the life and needs of the dead in the next world are more or less similar to those in this existence. It therefore became a pious duty of surviving relations to provide a dead person with all the things that he usually needed when alive. Especially when an important personage like a chief, a nobleman or a warrior died, it was felt that his usual paraphernalia should be 'sent' with him. He would of course require his wives, horses and servants in the next world, and it would therefore be necessary and desirable to kill these all, and burn or bury them with him. Such a belief should have given rise to the custom of burning or burying the husband also along with the wife. Man, however, wielded supreme power in society almost everywhere and was not prepared to sanction a custom adverse to his own interest and comfort. It may, however, be pointed out that in Ashanti, kings' sisters were allowed to marry handsome youths among commoners, but they were compelled to commit suicide on the death of their royal consorts.

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The custom of the sacrifice of the widow at the funeral of her husband was widely prevailing in ancient times. There is no direct evidence to show that it prevailed in the Indo-European age, but the fact that it was practised among the Gauls, the Goths the Norwegians, the Celts, the Slavs and the Thracians would justify the inference that it was probably well established among the Indo-Europeans. It was quite common among the Scythians. In China if a widow killed herself in order to follow her husband to heaven, her corpse was taken out in a great procession¹.

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¹ Tawney: *Kathāsaritsāgara*, vol. IV, Terminal Essay on Suttee by Penzer.

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The general prevalence of this custom among the primitive warlike tribes is not difficult to understand. Fighting races are very jealous of their women and often prefer to kill them, rather than take the risk of their going astray after their husbands’ death. There was also the general belief, already referred to, that the warrior will require in his next life all those things that were near and dear to him in this existence. It was therefore as reasonable to bury his clothes, bows, arrows and horses as to inter his wife. The wife is usually the dearest relation of a man, and the visitations of a chief’s ghost were popularly attributed to his desire to be united with his quondam queen. Why not lessen these dreaded visitations by burning or burying her along with his remains? This custom also made the life of the patriarch very safe; it practically eliminated all possibility of any one among his numerous mutually envious wives intriguing against his life. They all knew that even if successful, they had no chance of surviving him. They were therefore all care and attention to see that no preventible accident intervened to shorten the husband’s life.

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Whatever the real reasons may have been, we find, as shown already, that the custom of sacrificing the wife at the husband’s death existed among the Aryans in the Indo-European period. By the time they entered India, it had, however, gone out of vogue. We do not find it mentioned in the Avesta. Nor is it referred to in the funeral hymns of the Ṛigveda, where it would certainly have been mentioned if it had been in existence. It is true that in the great controversy that raged after the legal prohibition of the Satī custom by Lord William Bentick, it was argued that a stanza in one of the Vedic funeral hymns gives a canonical sanction to the custom. The case, however, could be rendered plausible only by fraudulently changing the last word of the stanza from *agre* into *agneḥ*. The verse in question refers to women with their husbands living coming forward to annoint the corpse before it was consigned to flames, and contains no reference whatsoever to any widow immolating herself on her husband's funeral pyre¹.

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¹ Cf: – **इमा नारीरविधवाः सपत्नीरांजनेन सर्पिषा संविशन्तु ।** **अनश्रवोऽनमीवाः सुरत्ना आरोहन्तु जनयो योनिमग्ने ॥** Even when the last word is changed into *agneḥ*, it is only a forced construction that can detect in this stanza a reference to the widow immolation.

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The Atharvaveda, however, shows that the funeral ritual of the Vedic age preserved some formalities reminiscent of the archaic custom of Satī. It shows that it was still customary for the widow to lie by the side of her husband's corpse on the funeral pyre; she was, however, asked to come down, and a prayer was offered that she should lead a prosperous life enjoying the bliss of children and wealth². It is therefore clear that the Vedic age expected the widow rather to remarry than to immolate herself.

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² **इयं नारी पतिलोकं वृणाना निपद्यते उप त्वा मर्त्य प्रेतम् ।** **धर्मं पुराणमनुपालयन्ती तस्यै प्रजां द्रविणं चेह धत्त ॥** XVIII, 2, 1.

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The reasons that led to the discontinuation of the Satī custom in the Vedic age can only be inferred. Probably the finer cultural outlook, that the Vedic Aryans had developed by this time, had convinced them that the custom was a barbarous one; probably they also found themselves in minority in India and felt the compelling necessity to increase their population in order to ensure their political domination. Instead of allowing widows to be burnt, they thought that it would be better to encourage them to live and increase the population by levirate or remarriage.

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Whatever the reasons may have been, it is undisputed that the Satī custom had gone out of vogue among the Aryans at the time they had entered India. We find no traces of it whatsoever down to *c.* 400 B. C. The Brāhmaṇa literature (*c.* 1500 B. C. to *c.* 700 B. C.) is silent about it. Grihyasūtras (*c.* 600 to *c.* 300 B. C.) describe numerous rituals and Saṁskāras, but the custom of Satī does not figure among them. From the details of the funeral ritual and procedure given in them, we find that the widow was to be brought back from the funeral pyre, either by her husband’s brother or disciple, or by an old trusted servant¹. From the *Taittirīya Āraṇyaka* we find that while returning from the funeral pyre, the widow took away from her husband’s hand objects like bow, gold, jewels, etc., which were burnt along with the widow in an earlier age. A hope was then expressed that the widow and her relatives would lead a happy and prosperous life². It is clear that the custom of Satī had died down long ago.

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¹ तामुत्थापयेद्देवरः पतिस्थानीयोऽन्तेवासी जरद्दासो वा ‘उदीर्ष्व नारि अभि जीवलोकम्’ इति । *A.G.S.*, IV, 2, 18.

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² धनुर्हस्तादाददाना मृतस्य श्रिये ब्रह्मणे तेजसे बलाय । अत्रैव त्वमिह वयं सुशेवा विश्वाः स्पृधोऽभिजातीर्जयेम ॥ VI, 1. The verse is repeated twice more with the change of the first word into मनिम् and सुवर्णम् .

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The Buddhist literature also is unaware of the custom of Satī. If it had existed in the days of the Buddha, one feels certain that the great Sakyan sage would have started a vehement crusade against it. He who opposed sacrifices to gods, because dumb animals were immolated therein, would certainly have been exasperated by a custom which entailed the burning of human beings alive. So we may well conclude that even in Kshatriya circles the custom was not prevalent in *c.* 500 B. C. Megasthenes and Kauṭilya both do not mention the custom. The authors of the Dhārmasūtras (*c.* 400 B. C. to *c.* 100 A. D.) and the writers of the early Smṛitis like those of Manu and Yājñavalkya (*c.* 100 A. D. to *c.* 300 A. D.) have laid down detailed rules about the duties of women and widows. None of them, however, even hints that it would be commendable for a widow to burn herself alive with her dead husband at his funeral.

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We begin to get stray references to the custom of Satī from about 300 B. C. The Mahābhārata, a major portion of which was composed at about this time, knows of one, but only one, case of Satī, *viz.*, that of Mādrī. But even in her case, it is interesting to note that the assembled sages try their best to dissuade her from her resolve. Mādrī, however, is unmoved by their arguments. She says that she is determined to die with her husband, firstly because she was the cause of his death, secondly because she would be unable to control her passions, and thirdly because she may find it difficult to treat evenly her sons and stepsons¹. No argument of any religious merit is assigned by her or any body else. The wives of Abhimanyu and Ghaṭotkacha survive their spouses². The epic records no other case of Satī. There is a talk of Draupadī being consigned to flames along with the remains of Kīchaka, but that was merely for the sake of revenge³.

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¹ श्र मेवानुयास्यामि भर्तारमपलापिनम् ।

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² In his *Kādambarī* Bāṇa expressly refers to the case of Uttarā in justification of the conduct of Mahāśvetā in deciding to survive her lover. We, however, find Uttarā represented as burning herself with her husband Abhimanyu in the Bali island version of the Mahābhārata. The reason of the discrepancy is obvious; the Bali island version belongs to a time when the custom of Satī had become popular.

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³ बदृशुस्तु ततः कृष्णां सूतपुत्राः समागताः ।

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As against this solitary instance of Satī in the case of Mādrī, in the 11th book of the epic we have the spectacle of hundreds and thousands of dead heroes being burnt along with their costumes, weapons and chariots; in not a single case, however, do we find a widow burning herself along with the remains of her husband (Chaps. 31-33). The *Veṇīsaṃhāra* no doubt refers to the case of a Satī on the Kaurava battlefield (Act IV), but it is quite clear that it is due to the anachronism of its author. The epic itself states that all the widows of the fallen heroes remained behind and offered them funeral oblations⁴.

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⁴ Later on they are represented as plunging into the Ganges and being reunited with their husbands in heaven. At best, this would be a case of suicide. The procedure has no affinity with the custom of Satī.

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न हि तृप्तास्मि कामानां ज्येष्ठा मामनुमन्यताम् ॥
वर्तेयं न समां वृत्ति जात्वहं न सुतेषु ते । I, 138, 71-2.

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हन्यतां शीघ्रमसती यत्कृते कीचको हतः ॥
अथवा नैव हन्तव्या दह्यतां कामिना सह ।
मृतस्यापि प्रियं कार्यं सूतपुत्रस्य सर्वथा ॥ IV, 23, 4 ff.

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In the original portion of the Rāmāyaṇa there is no case of Satī. In the Uttarakāṇḍa (17, 14) we find Vedavatī's mother becoming a Satī; but this story is more legendary than historical and the book where it occurs is admittedly a later addition, being as modern as about 500 a. d. In the original kernel of the epic, we find that when Rāvaṇa by means of his magic raised before the eyes of Sītā the illusion of the fall of Rāma, she expressed the wish to be burnt along with her husband (VI, 32, 32). This passage also is probably a later interpolation, for none of the wives of Daśaratha or Rāvaṇa are represented in the epic as accompanying their husbands on the funeral pyre.

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Purāṇas refer only to a few cases of Satī. This shows that by about 400 a. d., when the Purāṇas were given their present form, the custom was gradually coming into general vogue. It does not prove its antiquity. It is interesting to note that some of the Satī cases in Purāṇas are the imaginary creations of a later age, and go against the earlier tradition. Thus the Mahābhārata is unaware of any Yādava widows having burnt themselves on their husbands' funeral pyres; according to the *Padmapurāṇa*, however, all of them became Satīs (Uttarakāṇḍa, chap. 279). The vast majority of the widows that figure in Purāṇas survive their husbands.

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The earliest historical instance of Satī is that of the wife of the Hindu general Keteus, who died in 316 b. c. while fighting against Antigonos. Both the wives of the general were very anxious to accompany their husband on the funeral pyre, but as the elder one was with child, the younger one alone was allowed to carry out her wish. Greek writers tell us that she was led to the pyre by her brother, and that she was all gleeful even when the flames enveloped her person. Some Greek historians tell us that the custom was prevalent among the Kathians (Kaṭhas) of the Punjab. It was, however, still confined only to a few Kshatriya circles, for it is not noticed by Greek writers in connection with other fighting tribes, which stubbornly opposed Alexander and many members of which died while fighting with the invader.

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The custom was gradually struggling into existence in the early centuries of the Christian era. Hence, as shown above, we get stray references to it in the later portions of the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata, and in the present version of some Purāṇas. *Vishṇusmṛiti* (*c.* 100 A.D.) thinks the custom to be not illogical; it advanced the view that in spite of diversity of Karman, a widow can, though other relations cannot, go the way of the departed soul by dying after him¹. The custom, however, was not yet regarded as a religious duty. Vishṇu himself does not recommend it, he merely mentions it. He is in fact one of the earliest writers to recognise the widow as an heir to her husband; he allows her to remarry also (17, 43).

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¹ मृतोऽपि बान्धवः शक्तो नानुगन्तुं प्रियं जनम् । जायावर्जं हि सर्वस्य याम्यः पन्था विरुध्यते ॥ 20, 36.

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The custom began to become popular in Kshatriya circles from *c.* 400 A. D. It is known to Vātsyāyana, Bhāsa, Kālidāsa and Śūdraka. Vātsyāyana points out (VI, 2, 53) how clever dancing girls gain ascendancy over the mind of their lovers by swearing that they would burn themselves on their funeral pyres. From the *Dūtaghaṭotkacha* and *Ūrubhaṅga* of Bhāsa, it appears that the dramatist differed from the Mahābhārata in holding that Uttarā, Duśśalā and Pauravī died on the funeral pyres of their husbands, Abhimanyu, Jayadratha and Duryodhana respectively. In the *Kumārasambhava* (Canto IV) Ratī is about to burn herself after her husband's death; it is only a voice from the heaven that dissuades her from her resolve. In the *Mṛichchhakaṭika* the wife of Chārudatta wants to burn herself before the arrival of the expected news of her husband's execution (Act X). To turn to historic cases of the period, we find that the wife of general Goparāja, who fell in 510 A. D. while fighting for his country against the Hūṇas, immolated herself on her husband's funeral pyre¹. In 606 A. D. the mother of King Harsha chose to predecease her husband by committing herself to flames, when it was declared that there was no chance of her husband's recovery. At about this time a Nepalese queen, named Rājyavatī, is also seen becoming a Satī.

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¹ भक्तानुरक्ता च प्रिया च कान्ता भार्यावलग्नानुग....ग्नराशिम् ॥ *C. I. I.*. Vol. III, p. 93.

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Some Smṛiti writers of the period now begin to refer to the practice. They do not, however, hold it as an ideal for the widow; they allow it only as a second alternative and regard ascetic life as preferable to it. Such is the case with Bṛihaspati, Parāśara (IV, 26-8) and the author of *Agni-purāṇa*¹.

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² शरीरार्धं स्मृता भार्या पुण्‍याᳵप्यफले समा । अन्वारूढा जीवती वा साध्वी भर्तृ हिताय सा ॥ Quoted in *Vivādaratnākara*, p. 442.

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¹ भर्तृाग्नि या विशेन्नारी सापि स्वर्गमवाप्नुयात् । 221, 23.

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There were, however, several thinkers, who were altogether opposed to the idea of giving even a qualified recognition to the custom. Thus Medhātithi admits that the custom has been mentioned by *Aṅgirassmṛiti*, but maintains that it has no authoritative value, for it is opposed to an express Vedic text which prohibits suicide to all². Virāṭa takes a more decisive stand and positively prohibits the custom. He points out that the widow can do some good to her husband, if she survives and offers him the prescribed oblations at the Śrāddha; if she ascends the funeral pyre, she will be only incurring the sin of suicide³. Devaṇabhaṭṭa, a 12th century writer from south India, maintains that the Satī custom is only a very inferior variety of Dharma and is not to be recommended at all⁴. To the poet Bāṇa (*c.* 625 A. D.), however, belongs the credit of offering the most vehement, determined and rational opposition to this new inhuman practice. ‘To die after one’s beloved,' says he, 'is most fruitless. It is a custom followed by the foolish. It is a mistake committed under infatuation. It is a reckless course followed only on account of hot haste. It is a mistake of stupendous magnitude. It does no good whatsoever to the dead person. It does not help him in ascending to heaven; it does not prevent him from sinking into hell. It does not at all ensure union after death; the person who has died goes to the place determined by his own Karman, the person who accompanies him on the funeral pyre goes to the hell reserved for those who are guilty of the sin of suicide. On the other hand, by surviving the deceased, one can do much good both to oneself and to the departed by offering prescribed oblations for his happiness in the other world. By dying with him one can do good to neither'¹.

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² पुंवत्स्त्रीणामपि प्रतिषिद्ध आत्मत्यागः । यथैव 'श्येनेन हिंस्याद्भूतानि' इति अधिकारस्य श्रतिप्रवृद्धतरद्वेषान्धतया सत्यामपि प्रवृत्तौ न धर्मंत्वम् एवमिहापि (अनुमरणस्य) न शास्त्रीयत्वम् । किं च तस्मादु ह न पुरायुषः प्रेयादिति प्रत्यक्षश्रुतिविरोधोऽयम् अतोऽस्त्येव पतिमतुमरणे स्त्रियाः प्रतिषेधः । On *Manu*, V, 157.

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³ अनुवर्तेत जीवन्तं न तु यायान्मृतं पतिम् । जीवद्भर्तृहितं कुर्यान्मरणादात्मघातिनी ॥ Quoted by, Aparārka on *Yāj*., I, 87.

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⁴ तद्धर्म्मान्तरमपि ब्रह्मचर्यधर्माज्जघन्यं निष्फलत्वात् । *Vyavahārakāṇḍa*, p. 598.

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¹ यदेतदनुमरणं नाम तदतिनिष्फलम् । अविद्वज्जनाचरित एष मार्गः । मोहविलसितमेतद्रभसाचरितमिदं यदुपरते पितरि भर्तरि भ्रातरि वा प्राणाः परित्यज्यन्ते । स्वयं चेन्न जहति न परित्याज्याः । उपरतस्य तु न कमपि गुणमावहति । न तावत्तस्यायं शुभलोकोपार्जनहेतुः, न निरयपातप्रतिकारः, न परस्परसमागमनिमित्तम् । अन्यामेव स्वकर्मफलपाकोपचितामसौ अवशो नीयते भूमिम् । असावपि आत्मघातिनः केवलमेनसा संयुज्यते । जीवतस्तु जलाञ्जलिदानादिना बहूपकरोत्युपरतस्यात्मनश्च, मृतस्तु नोभयस्यापि । *Kādambarī*, *Pūrvārdha*, p. 308

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It is clear that Bāṇa was struck with horror by the tendency to eulogise the Satī custom, shown in some quarters in his days, and was anxious to offer the most determined opposition to it. Tantra writers also joined him in the crusade. They pointed out that woman was the embodiment of Supreme Goddess, and boldly declared that if a person burnt her with her husband, he would be condemned to eternal hell¹.

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¹ भर्तारं सह कुलेशानि न दहेत्कुलकामिनीम् । तव स्वरूपा रमणी जगत्याच्छन्नविग्रहा । मोहाद्भर्तुश्चितारोहाद् भवेन्निरयगामिनी ॥ *Mahānirvāṇatantra*, X, 79-80.

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Unfortunately this crusade sponsored by wise thinkers failed to have any effect. The custom continued to gain in popularity mainly among fighting classes. Ascetic ideals were gaining the upper hand in society; the conduct of a widow boldly burning herself with the remains of her husband appeared to it as the most glorious example of supreme self sacrifice. The theory of Karman also was modified so as to support the Satī custom. There was no doubt that normally a relation could not join a dead person in the other world by dying after him, as the Karman of the two persons would lead them to different destinations. The Satī however, was an exception, the merit of her self sacrifice was more than sufficient to annihilate her husband's sins and raise him to heaven to live in eternal union with his wife. The Scythian influence further helped the spread of the, custom. A considerable portion of northern India was under the rule of Scythians from *c.* 150 B. C. to *c.* 250 A. D., and among them the custom of burning the wife along with the remains of a departed chief was quite common. The custom was already practised by some stray Kshatriya tribes; the example of the new rulers tended to make it popular among the rest.

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From about 700 A. D. fiery advocates began to come forward to extol the custom of Satī in increasing numbers. Aṅgiras argued that the only course which religion has prescribed for a widow is that of Satī¹. Hārīta maintained that the wife can purify her husband from the deadliest of sins, if she burns herself with his remains. The two will then happily reside in heaven for three and a half crores of years². A passage interpolated in *Parāśarasmṛiti* observes that just as a snake-charmer forcibly drags out a snake from a hole by force, in the same manner the Satī takes out her husband from hell and enjoys heaven with him for three and a half crores of years³. Even if the wife had led a dissolute life, it would not matter; her immolation, even if not voluntary, will ensure a permanent seat in heaven both to her and her husband⁴.

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¹ साध्वीनामिह नारीणामग्निप्रपतनादृते । नान्यो धर्मोऽस्ति विज्ञेयो मृते भर्तरि कुत्रचित् ॥ Quoted by Aparārka at *Yāj*, I, 87.

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² तिस्रः कोटयर्धकोटी च यानि रोमाणि मानुषे । तावत्कालं वसेत्स्वर्गे भर्तारं यानुगच्छति ॥ ब्यालग्राही यथा ब्यालं बिलादुद्धरते बलात् । एवमुद्धृत्य भर्तारं तेनैव सह मोदते ॥ IV, 31-32. This passage is an interpolation, because two verses earlier, Parāśara permits a widow to remarry.

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³ ब्रह्मघ्नं वा सुरापं वा कृतघ्नं वापि मानवम् । यमादाय मृता नारी सा भर्तारं पुनाति हि ॥ *Vṛiddhahārīta* 201.

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⁴ अवमत्य तु याः पूर्वं पतिं दुष्टेन चेतसा । वर्तन्ते याश्च सततं भर्तॄणां प्रतिकूलतः ॥ तेहाद्मरणं काले याः कुर्वन्ति तथाविधाः । कामात्क्रोधाद्भयान्मोहात्सर्वाः पूता भवन्ति ह ॥ Mādhava attributes these verses to the Mahābhārata at Parāśara, IV, 33; they, however, do not occur in the epic.

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The views advocated by these writers gradually began to produce some effect on society. During the period 700-1100 a. d., Satīs became more frequent in northern India and quite common in Kashmir. The history of Kashmir during this period teems with the cases of Satīs in royal families. Kalhaṇa, the historian of the province, is surprised to find that even notoriously unchaste queens like Jayamatī, the wife of king Uchchala, should be seen immolating themselves on their husbands’ funeral pyres¹. The custom of Satī was so deep-rooted in the ruling families of Kashmir, that not only regularly married wives, but even concubines, used to follow it. Kings Kalaśa and Utkarsha were, for instance, followed both by their wives and concubines (*Rājataraṅgiṇī*, VII, 858). It seems that the principle of dying after a beloved relative was extended to relations other than the husband as well; we sometimes come across mothers, sisters and sisters-in-law burning themselves with the dead relation (*Ibid*, VI, 1380; VIII, 448; VII, 1486). Cases are also on record of ministers, servants and nurses burning themselves with their masters (*Ibid*, V. 206; VII, 481; VII, 490; VIII, 1447). This reminds us of the *harikari* custom of Japan. Kalhaṇa records the case even of a cat, which out of affection for its royal master Sussala, voluntarily threw itself on his funeral pyre (VII, 2441). In the stories of *Kathāsaritsāgara*, (which was written in *c.* 1100 a.d. in Kashmir,) the custom of Satī is quite common. Its great prevalence in the valley of Kashmir is probably due to its proximity to Central Asia, which was the home of the Scythians, among whom the custom was quite common.

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¹ दौश्शील्यमप्याचरन्त्यो घातयन्त्योऽपि वल्लभान् । हेलया प्रविशन्त्यग्निं न स्त्रीषु प्रत्ययः क्वचित् ॥ *Rājataraṅgiṇī*, VIII, 366.

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Down to *c.* 1000 A. D. Satīs were rare in the Deccan. Sulaiman, an Arabian merchant who had spent some time on the western coast of India at the beginning of the 10th century, states that it was only sometimes that queens used to mount the funeral pyres of their consorts; there was no compulsion, it was entirely left to them to choose (Elliot and Dowson, Vol. I, p. 6).

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As far as the extreme south of India is concerned, the Satī was more an exception than a rule down to *c.* 1000 A. D. The queen of only king Bhūta Pāṇḍeya of the Saṅgam age is known to have followed the custom (*Puram*, 246-7). Her historicity is, however, a matter of uncertainty. Among the members of the Pallava, the Chola and the Pāṇḍya ruling families, so well known to us from numerous inscriptions, we do not come across any cases of Satī down to *c.* 900 A.D. It is therefore clear that the custom was yet to obtain a footing in South India.

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We have already observed that the Satī was originally a Kshatriya custom. The accounts of the Greek historians make it clear that it was confined to fighting classes only in the 4th century B. C. The *Bṛihaddaivata*, while recognising the validity of the custom among the Kshatriyas, doubts whether it could be permissible for other castes to follow it¹. The *Padmapurāṇa* extols the custom to the sky, but expressly prohibits it to Brāhmaṇa women. It declares that any person, who will be guilty of helping a Brāhmaṇa widow to the funeral pyre, will be guilty of the dreadful and unatonable sin of the murder of a Brāhmaṇa¹ (*brahmahatyā*).

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¹ वर्णानामितरेषां तु स्त्रीधर्मोऽयं भवेन्न वा । VII, 15.

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¹ न म्रियेत समं भर्त्रा ब्राह्मणी ब्रह्मशासनात् । प्रव्रज्यागतिमाप्नोति मरणादात्मघातिनी ॥ नरोत्तम उवाचः-सर्वासामेव जातीनां ब्राह्मणः शस्य उच्यते। पुण्यं च द्विजमुख्येन अत्र किं वा विपर्ययः ॥ भगवानुवाचः-ब्राह्मण्याः साहसं कर्म नैव कार्यं कदाचन । निश्शेषेऽस्या वधं कृत्वा स नरो ब्रह्महा भवेत् ॥
* Sṛishṭikhaṇḍa, 49, 72-3.

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The Brāhmaṇa community, however, was accustomed to pride itself on following the most ascetic and self-denying code of life; eventually it began to feel that it should not allow itself to be outdistanced by the Kshatriyas in the custom of Satī. The custom therefore began to be followed by a few Brāhmaṇa families soon after 1000 A. D. We have seen already how there are express commands in earlier texts prohibiting a Brāhmaṇa widow from following the new fashion of suicide, but commentators of this period began to explain them away with their proverbial ingenuity. It was argued that when death by mounting the funeral pyre of the husband was apparently prohibited to a Brāhmaṇa widow, what was meant was that she should not take the step merely under a temporary sense of overwhelming grief. It should be the result of full and mature deliberation². Or, the intention may be to interdict death by mounting a separate funeral pyre; a Brāhmaṇa widow must be always burnt along with her husband's remains on the same pyre¹. These arguments are advanced by south Indian commentators of the 12th and 14th centuries; it is therefore clear that the custom had by this time spread to south India and penetrated into the Brāhmaṇa community as well.

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² तस्माद्विधितः प्रवर्तमानाया ब्राह्मण्या अनुगमनान्निषेधो न विद्यते । शोकादिप्रवृत्तायास्तु विद्यते एव । Aparārka on *Yāj*., I, 87.

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¹ अस्य निषेधस्य पृथक्चितिनिषेधत्वात् । अत एवोशनाः । पृथक्चितिं समारुह्य न विप्रा गन्तुमर्हति । Mādhava on Parāśara IV, 31.

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Recorded cases of Satīs in northern India outside Kashmir are very few during the period 700-1200 A. D. In this part of the country there were several Rajput dynasties ruling over different provinces at this time. We have got several official eulogies describing the military achievements and deeds of valour of the Pratīhāras, the Paramāras, the Chedis, the Chandellas, etc., but they rarely refer to any cases of Satīs, even when they refer to heroes dying on the battlefields. Only in the case of King Gāṅgaeyadeva of the Chedi dynasty an official epigraph tells us that he obtained salvation at Prayāga under the holy Vaṭa tree along with his hundred wives². The language used, however, suggests that the old king and his queens simultaneously committed religious suicide in the Ganges. The case therefore is not one of Satī. There is no doubt that mere negative evidence is not sufficient to prove the absence of a custom, but one cannot help thinking that if any queens had followed their consorts on the funeral pyre, their court panegyrists would certainly not have failed to glorify them. The conclusion therefore becomes irresistible that the Satī custom had not yet become appreciably common in the royal families of northern India. It had by this time, however, become a custom well recognised in Hinduism, for we find it travelling to the islands of Java, Sumatra and Bali along with Hindu emigrants.

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² प्राप्ते प्रयागवटमूलनिवेशबन्धौ सार्धं शतेन गृहिणीभिरमुत्र मुक्तिम् ॥ E. I., XII, p. 211, v. 12.

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In Rajputana, which became a great stronghold of the Satī custom in the medieval times, the earliest Satī stone, so far discovered, goes back to only 838 a.d. At Osia and Gatiyala in Jodhpur state several inscribed Satī stones have been discovered, but they attest to the prevalence of the custom only from the latter half of the 9th century. The custom therefore had not become much popular down to *c.* 1000 a. d. in northern India.

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The enthusiastic advocacy of the Satī custom by medieval commentators began to have an appreciable effect on society only after about 1300 a. d. Among the Karnatak inscriptions published in the *Epigraphia Carnatica* there are only 11 cases of Satīs during the period 1000-1400 a. d., but 41 during the period 1400-1600 a. d. Most of these Satīs, however, belonged to the Nayak and the Gauda classes, which formed the main fighting community of southern India. Two of them belonged to the Jain sect¹; it is clear that some Jains had also begun to feel that they ought not to lag behind Hindus in the matter. Inscriptions, however, record only very few cases of Brahmana widows becoming Satīs; it is obvious that the lifting of the canonical ban had not yet succeeded in popularising the custom in the priestly order.

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¹ *Ep. Car.*, Vol. VIII, Sorab Nos. 106 and 261, dated 1376 and 1408 respectively.

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Among the ruling Rajput families of northern India the custom became firmly established by this time. The average Rajput princess welcomed the opportunity to become a Satī and would not allow her husband to be cremated alone. Bards, ministers and relatives would often expostulate, but without any success. So, generally at the death of almost every Rajput king or nobleman, those among his widows, who were not with child or who were not required to direct the government as regents, used to ascend the funeral pyre. Their number was sometimes appallingly large. When Raja Ajitsingh of Marwar died in 1724, 64 women mounted his funeral pyre. When Raja Budhsingh of Bundi was drowned, 84 women became Satīs¹. The example of Rajputs was emulated by the Nayaks of Madura. When two rulers of this family died in 1611 and 1620, we are told that as many as 400 and 700 women ascended the funeral pyres. These numbers are probably exaggerated by missionary reporters ; it is, however, clear that a large number of women used to become Satīs at the death of each member of the Nayak family.

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¹ Tod: *Annals*, vol. II, p. 837.

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Amaradas, the 3rd Sikh Guru (1552-1574 A. D.) had condemned the Satī custom, and it was not followed by the Sikhs for a long time. When, however, they developed into a fighting community, they did not like to lag behind the Rajputs in following time-honoured martial traditions, which enjoined Satī as a matter of course. The Satī custom became common in Sikh aristocracy in spite of its prohibition by the Gurus. Thus when Ranjit Singh died, four queens and seven concubines of his ascended the funeral pyre. During the troublesome period following his death, princes and generals fell in quick succession and almost everyone of them was accompanied by his wives and concubines. Three women died with Maharaja Kharag Singh, five with Basant Singh, eleven with Kishori Singh, twentyfour with Hira Singh and 310 with Suchet Singh.

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The Maratha ruling families claimed Rajput descent and so could not remain immune from the influence of the custom. Satī, however, was rather an exception than a rule with them. When Shivaji died, only one of his wives became a Satī. The same was the case with Rajaram. The queen of Shahu was compelled to burn herself owing to the political machinations of her mother-in-law, Tarabai. There are very few other cases of Satīs recorded among the annals of the Maratha ruling families at Satara, Nagpur, Gwalior, Indore and Baroda. It is clear that the custom did not become popular among them, as it did among the Sikh princes and generals.

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Muslim rulers as a general rule did not like the custom. Humayun wanted to prohibit it in the case of the widows, who had passed the child-bearing age (*J. A. S. B.*, 1935, p. 76). He, however, could not take any adequate steps in the matter. In the 22nd year of his reign Akbar translated his opposition to the custom into action by appointing inspectors to see that no force was used to compel widows to burn themselves against their will. As a consequence, Satīs became rare in the territories contiguous to Agra.

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Many Muslim administrators had made it a rule that no widow should be allowed to mount the funeral pyre without the permission of the local Government officer. This provision did not materially check the custom, as the prescribed permission could be usually obtained without much difficulty.

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That the practice of Satī was mainly a medieval development is also proved by the circumstance that its detailed procedure has not been described even by those few late Smṛitis, which recommend the practice. We get detailed information on the point only from some late medieval Purāṇas and foreign merchants and travellers.

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The Satī was an object of the highest veneration, and so was taken out to the accompaniment of music in a grand procession through the town to the cremation grounds. She was given a bath, and then she put on her person all the insignia of *saubhāgya* or married bliss¹. Very often she used to give away her ornaments and belongings to her friends and relations, who used to keep them as sacred mementos. Then she used to take final leave of her relations. Some travellers have narrated that people used to entrust to her messages to their dead relations in heaven ; whether such was really the case may well be doubted.

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¹ स्नानं मंगलसंस्कारो भूषणाञ्जनधारणम् । गन्धपुष्पं तथा धूपं हरिनाक्षतधारणम् ॥ मंगलं च तथा सूत्रं पादालक्तकमेव च । शक्त्या दानं प्रियोक्तिश्च प्रसन्नस्यास्यत्वमेव च ॥ नानामंगलवाद्यानां श्रवणं गीतकस्य च । कुर्यादथ स्वकां भूषां विप्राय प्रतिपादयेत् ॥ *Padmapurāṇa*, *Pātālakhaṇḍa*, 102, 67ff.

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Usually there was *sahamaraṇa*, *i.e.*, the widow mounted the same pyre that was prepared for her husband. If there were several widows, the practice differed. Sometimes the favourite wife was selected for the honour of *sahamaraṇa*, others being burnt on separate pyres; sometimes all were placed on the same pyre, their petty jealosies, if any, being reconciled during the last fateful moments of their life. The Satī used to take with her Kuṁkuma, comb, mirror and betel leaves, which were the insignia of *saubhāgya*, and place her husband's head on her lap. Then the pyre was lighted.

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If the husband had died on a distant battlefield, joint cremation was impossible. In such cases the widow used to mount a separate pyre, along with her husband's turban or shoes as a substitute for his body.

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Even widows intensely anxious to follow their husbands were likely to recoil and jump out under the agony of the flames of fire. So special funeral arrangements were made in the case of a Satī. The funeral pyre was piled in a deep pit in many parts of the country, especially in the Deccan and Western India. This rendered an escape impossible. A Mysore inscription refers to a lady going out to become a Satī as going forth to the fire pit to die (*E. C.*, Vol. IV, 2, Hg. No. 18). Barbosa and Linschoten have also referred to this method. In Gujarat and northern U. P., a wooden house, about 12 feet square, was constructed and the widow was tied to one of its pillars. In Bengal the widow's feet were tied to posts fixed into the ground; she was thrice asked whether she really wished to go to heaven, and then the pyre was lighted. Where burial was practised, the widow was interred along with her husband. This was the case in Andhra province in the 16th century.

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Was any force excercised to compel unwilling widows to mount the funeral pyre? A straight reply like 'yes' or 'no' cannot be given to this question. There can be no doubt that in some cases unwilling widows were forced to burn themselves. Kalhaṇa has recorded the cases of two Kashmir queens bribing their ministers in order to induce them to come to the cremation ground for dissuading them from their apparently voluntary resolution to accompany their departed husbands. Queen Diddā adopted this strategem and was saved by her minister Naravāhana (VI, 195). Garga, the wily minister of queen Jayamatī, had a fiendish heart; he took the bribe all right, but deliberately delayed going to the cremation ground. The poor queen had to allow herself to be burnt in pursuance of her so-called voluntary resolve (VIII, 363). Medieval travellers record many cases of force being excercised, and their accounts must be true at least in some cases. Manucci tells us that Kshatriya women were burnt even against their wishes (III, p. 65); he himself rescued one such woman, who was eventually married to a European friend of his. Nicoli Conti informs us that financial pressure was often excercised, the widow being informed that she would lose her right to Strīdhana, if she decided to survive (*J. A. S. B.*, 1935, p. 256). Bernier has narrated the pathetic case of a child widow of 12 being burnt against her will at Lahore (pp. 363-64). In the case of Jaimall, one of Akbar's officers, his son wanted to forcibly immolate his mother; she was eventually saved only by the intervention of Akbar (*Akbarānmā*, 28th year). Sometimes the unfortunate widows, who were forced to become Satīs, used to recoil and run away from the funeral pyre. They were then regarded as untouchables and were not accepted back by their castes and families. They had to throw themselves on the mercy of low caste men, who used to assemble at the funeral when they suspected that the widow was likely to recoil at the 11th hour. Sometimes they were rescued by European traders, who used to marry them. It is a pity that in spite of such instances society should not have realised the enormous inequity of the custom.

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The failure of society in this respect is partly attributable to the fact that in the vast majority of cases widows were willing parties to their immolation. A Karnatak inscription, belonging to the 11th century, tells us how a lady named Dekabbe would not listen to the earnest entreaties of her parents not to mount her husband's pyre (*E. C.*, IV, Hg. No. 18). Muktabai, the daughter of Rani Ahalyabai of Indore, became a Satī in 1792 in spite of the weeping and heartrending entreaties of her old and saintly mother. Tavernier, a 17th century traveller, narrates how a widow of 22 went to the governor of Patna to get his permission, and how she held her hand in the flame of a torch till it was burnt to cinders in order to convince the officer that she was a willing party, and was not afraid of fire (pp. 414-7). 'Ibn Batuta, a 14th century traveller, tells us how he fainted to see the unbelievable courage of a dauntless widow, who gleefully embraced the devouring flames of the funeral fire (p. 191). Bernier, while describing a case of which he was an eye witness, states that it is impossible to describe the brutish boldness or the ferocious gaity depicted on the woman’s countenance; her step was undaunted, her conversation was free from all perturbation; her easy air was free from all dejection, her lofty courage was void of all embarrassment. She took a torch and with her own hand lighted the fire. It appeared to be a dream, but it was a stern reality (pp. 312-3). Pietro della Valle was also impressed by the courage of the average Satī. ‘If I knew (of a lady about to become a Satī), I will not fail to go and see her and honour by my presence her funeral with that compassionate affection, which such a great conjugal fidelity and love seem to deserve’ (*Travells*, II, p. 266).

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That it is a religious duty for a woman of sufficient courage and resolution to accompany her husband was so deep-rooted a conviction in medieval times, that we sometimes come across cases of betrothed but unmarried women insisting to mount the funeral pyres of their would-be husbands. Mustaqui has recorded one such case; the betrothed husband died in trying to save his sweetheart from a serpent, which eventually bit him with fatal effects. Though not yet married, the girl insisted on becoming a Satī and burnt herself on the funeral pyre of her lover (*J. A. S. B.*, 1935, p. 259).

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The available evidence shows that, barring a few exceptions, most of the widows, who used to become Satīs, were free agents in their choice. The average Rajput or Kshatriya lady ascended the funeral pyre with the same reckless courage with which her husband used to embrace death on the battle field, when leading a forlorn hope against very heavy odds. It is probable, however, that in some cases the force of public opinion may have been felt to be too strong. It is equally clear that young and childless widows in particular may have in some cases decided to terminate their life, with their husbands because they feared that it would be too dreary for them. Remarriage was out of question, and even for their maintenance they had to depend upon not very sympathetic relations¹. Grown up widows like the mother of king Harsha would feel that the purpose of their life was over, that they had nothing more to achieve or enjoy, and that it was therefore in the fitness of things that they should accompany their beloved spouses. The vast majority of widows, who terminated their life on their husbands' funeral pyres, did so out of genuine love and devotion to their husbands whom they also revered as God. They believed that the course they were following was in the best spiritual interest both of themselves and their husbands. A stern sense of duty, a stoical contempt of physical pain, and the hope of an eternal union with their beloved husbands in heaven sustained them through the terrible ordeal on the burning pyre. Naturally society held them in reverence and immortalised their memory by suitable memorials, as it does in the case of heroes who deliberately and cheerfully sacrifice their lives in the cause of their religion or mother-land out of a sense of duty and patriotism, often after undergoing long and excruciating pain on the dismal and desolate battle field.

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¹ Compare, for instance, the following extract from a 13th century Tamil inscription which contains the passionate outpourings of the heart of a young widow, afraid of the woes and ill-treatment in store for her :—‘If she lived after her husband, she would be the slave of her cowives (who apparently had sons and were therefore going to be *de facto* owners of the family property). Whosoever said that she ought not to die,..... those, who did not bind her, and throw her into fire, and kill her would get the sin of prostituting their wives’. *S.I.E.R.*, 1907, p. 77.

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What was the percentage of widows who ascended the funeral pyre, when the course came to be fervently recommended by later Purāṇas? It is difficult to answer this question for the period 1300-1800, as there are no statistics for it. We have no doubt numerous Satī stones scattered throughout the country, but it is difficult to utilise them for determining the percentage. There is no doubt that it was high in the warrior families of Rajputana. It was probably as high as 25 per cent.

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As far as the general population is concerned, perhaps one widow in a thousand became a Satī, when the custom was in its greatest vogue. Public opinion and government had not begun to assert themselves against the custom in the first quarter of the 19th century; we may therefore well presume that the prevalence of the custom at this time was more or less the same as it was during the preceding four or five centuries. Government records of this period show that in the presidencies of Bombay and Madras, the average annual number of Satīs was well below 50. In the Poona dominion of the Peshwa the annual average was about 12 during the period 1800 to 1812. Tanjore district had the worst reputation for Satīs, but its record was of only 24 cases during the eighteen months preceding 1817. In Central India only 3 or 4 cases of Satīs used to take place annually¹. It is quite possible that these statistics may be incomplete. But even if we suppose that the actual number of Satīs was twice the number officially recorded, the conclusion becomes inevitable that only an infinitesimal number of widows in the general population were immolating themselves. It is clear that not more than one widow in a thousand used to mount the funeral pyre in the Deccan and Central India.

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¹ The statistics in this and subsequent paragraphs are taken from Edward Thomson’s *Suttee*, London, (1926).

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In Bengal the Satī custom was more prevalent; this would clearly appear from the following table of Satī statistics, prepared by the British government:—

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| *Name of the Division.* | *Number of Satīs during the years 1815-28.* |
| Calcutta Division, predominently Hindu | 5099 |
| Dacca Division, predominently Muslim | 610 |
| Murshidabad Division, predominently Muslim | 260 |
| Patna Division, predominently Hindu | 709 |
| Bareily Division, predominently Hindu | 193 |
| Benares Division, predominently orthodox | 1165 |

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The above table will show that the percentage of Satīs in the Hindu population of Bengal was much larger than what obtained in the presidencies of Bombay and Madras, or even in the division of Benares, which was the greatest stronghold of orthodoxy¹. There is therefore some force in the view that undue advantage was taken in Bengal of the helpless and grief-stricken condition of the widow in order to induce her to become a Satī by some coparceners, who stood to gain by her elimination as an heir. The Dāyabhāga law, which permitted even the childless widow to become an heir to her husband, was thus not an unmixed blessing to the weak-minded section of the women of Bengal. The cases of force or undue influence, however, could not have been many. The annual average of Satīs in the Calcutta Division was about 370. This Division was at that time probably having a population equal to the whole of the then Bombay presidency, and its statistics also were very probably compiled much more accurately. It would therefore appear that Satīs were only twice as common in Bengal as they were in Bombay or Madras. In the latter provinces usually one widow in a thousand became a Satī. In Bengal the ratio was probably double, but not higher. Most of the Satīs in Bengal and U. P. were from the Brahmana caste. It is clear that the lifting of the canonical ban on the Brahmana widows to become Satīs had greatest effect in the Gangetic plain.

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¹ The annual number of Satīs in Bengal, during the years 1815 to 1828, is as follows :—

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| Year | Number | Year | Number | Year | Number |
| 1815 | 378 | 1820 | 598 | 1825 | 639 |
| 1816 | 442 | 1821 | 654 | 1826 | 518 |
| 1817 | 707 | 1822 | 583 | 1827 | 517 |
| 1818 | 839 | 1823 | 575 | 1828 | 463 |
| 1819 | 650 | 1824 | 572 | | |

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Bengal, however, then included U. P., Bihar, Orissa and Assam. Mill and Wilson, *History of British India*, IX, p. 271.

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We have already observed that the Satī custom could not have been in much greater vogue in the Hindu and Muslim periods than it was in the first quarter of the 19th century. Available statistics clearly show that outside ruling and priestly families the custom did not make a wide appeal. The fact was that the advocacy of the custom in later Smṛitis and Purāṇas failed to make a wide appeal to Hindu community. Though it admired and even deified the Satī as an example of supreme devotion and sacrifice, it really disliked the custom. It had not, however, the moral courage at this time to start a crusade against the custom as Bāṇa had done in the 7th century. Its religious leaders believed implicitly in the authority of later Smṛitis and Purāṇas and would not countenance any open agitation against a custom sanctioned by them. Society therefore tried to check the custom by individual persuasion. Ususally relations would try their best in dissuading a widow from becoming a Satī. Thus when the father-in-law of Narayanrao Peshwa died, his wife desired to follow him on the pyre. She was, however, dissuaded by her relations. Ahalyabai Holkar, who embodied the orthodox Hindu culture of the age, did not herself become a Satī, and tried her best, though without success, to dissuade her daughter from becoming one. Towards the beginning of the 19th century, the Brahmana government of Poona and the Maratha government of Savantwadi had issued official orders, definitely disapproving and discouraging the custom.

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When therefore Lord William Bentick issued his famous regulation in December 1829, making the custom illegal in British India, there was not much opposition to the proposal. It undoubtedly created a stir in the orthodox community, and its journal the *Chandrikā* wrote vehemently against the step. But the appeal to the Privy Council to annual the new regulation could get only 800 signatures. The new regulation was welcomed by the enlightened Hindu public opinion, and its mouth-piece the *Kaumudī* went on defending the action of the government. A memorial was presented to the Governor-General thanking him for his humane regulation. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the Morning Star of Asiatic Renaissance, went to England and pleaded before the members of the Parliament and Privy Council that the new regulation should not be annulled. Strengthened by this advocacy, the authorities in England rejected the memorial of the pro-Satī party in 1832.

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